ing good Books for a Week together. Much of this I take to proceed from the Indifcretion of the Books them'felves, whofe very Titles of Weekly Preparations, and fuch limited Godlinefs, lead People of ordinary Capacities into great Errors, and raife in them a Mechanical Religion, intirely distinct from Morality. I know a Lady fo given up to this fort of Devotion, that tho' fhe employs fix or eight Hours of the twenty four at Cards, fhe never miffes one constant Hour of Prayer, for which time ano'ther holds her Cards, to which the returns with no little Anxiousness till two or three in the Morning. All these Acts are but empty Shows, and, as it were, Compliments made to Virtue; the Mind is all the while un'touched with any true Pleasure in the 'Pursuit of it. From hence I presume < it arises that so many People call themfelves Virtuous, from no other Pretence to it but an Abfence of Ill. There is Dulcianara is the moft infolent of all Creatures to her Friends ' and Domesticks, upon no other Pretence in Nature but that (as her filly Phrase is) no one can fay Black is her ? Eye.

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Eye. She has no Secrets, forfooth, which should make her afraid to speak her Mind, and therefore fhe is imperC tinently Blunt to all her Acquaintance, and unfeasonably Imperious to all her C Family. Dear Sir, be pleased to put fuch Books in our Hands, as may make ' our Virtue more inward, and convince * fome of us that in a Mind truly virtuous the Scorn of Vice is always accompanied with the Pity of it. This, and other things, are impatiently expected from you by our whole Sex among the rest by,

Sir, Your most humble Servant,

I

the fame Day of that Year, were born in Cheapfide, London, two Females of exquifite Feature and Shape; the one we fhall call Brunetta, the other

Phillis. A clofe Intimacy between their Parents made each of them the firft Acquaintance the other knew in the World: They played, dreffed Babies, acted Vifitings, learned to Dance and make Curtfies, together. They were infeparable Companions in all the little Entertainments their tender Years were capable of: Which innocent Happiness continued till the Beginning of their fifteenth Year, when it happened that Mrs. Phillis had an Head-drefs on which became her fo very well, that instead of being beheld any more with Pleasure for their Amity to each other, the Eyes of the Neighbourhood were turned to remark them with Comparison of their Beauty. They now no longer enjoyed the Eafe of Mind and pleafing Indolence in which they were formerly happy, but all their Words and Actions were mifinterpreted by each other, and every Excellence in their Speech and Behaviour was looked upon as an Act of Emulation to furpafs the other. These Beginnings of Difinclination foon improved into a Formality of Behaviour, a general Coldness, and by natural Steps into an irreconcileable Hatred.

THESE

THESE two Rivals for the Reputation of Beauty, were in their Stature, Countenance and Mein fo very much alike, that if you were fpeaking of them in their Abfence, the Words in which you defcribed the one must give you an Idea of the other. They were hardly diftinguishable, you would think, when they were apart, tho' extreamly different when together. What made their Enmity the more entertaining to all the reft of their Sex was, that in Detraction from each other neither could fall upon Terms which did not hit her felf as much as her Adverfary. Their Nights grew restless with Meditation of new Dreffes to outvie each other, and inventing new Devices to recall Admirers, who obferved the Charms of the one rather than those of the other on the laft Meeting. Their Colours failed at each other's Appearance, flushed with Pleasure at the Report of a Difadvantage, and their Countenances withered upon Inftances of Applaufe. The Decencies to which Women are obliged, made these Virgins ftifle their Refentment fo far as not to break into open Violences, while they equally fuffered the Torments of a regulated Anger. VOL. III. C Their

Their Mothers, as it is ufual, engaged in the Quarrel, and fupported the feveral Pretenfions of the Daughters with all that ill-chofen Sort of Expence which is common with People of plentiful Fortunes and mean Tafte. The Girls preceded their Parents like Queens of May, in all the gaudy Colours imaginable, on every Sunday to Church, and were exposed to the Examination of the Audience for Superiority of Beauty.

DURING this conftant Struggle it happened, that Phillis one Day at publick Prayers fmote the Heart of a gay Weft-Indian, who appeared in all the Colours which can affect an Eye that could not distinguish between being fine and tawdry. This American in a Summer-Ifland Suit was too fhining and too gay to be refifted by Phillis, and too intent upon her Charms to be diverted by any of the laboured Attractions of Brunetta. Soon after, Brunetta had the Mortification to fee her Rival difpofed of in a wealthy Marriage, while he was only addreffed to in a Manner that thewed she was the Admiration of all Men, but the Choice of none. Phillis was carried to the Habitation of her Spouse in Barbadoes: Brunetta had the

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